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ICBMs are like nation-scale guns. Once you're at a certain level of technology, they don't need any more upgrades. They are proven technology and reliable. They
by forgotmypw17 6y ago
ICBMs are like nation-scale guns. Once you're at a certain level of technology, they don't need any more upgrades. They are proven technology and reliable. They can do a shitton of damage. They are best left unused. You can't reliably defend against them. And if you have them, even just one, others are reluctant to fuck with you.
- onion2k 6y agoThe US's nuclear arsenal clearly doesn't put countries off fucking with the US. The US spent $732bn on the military in 2019, which is approximately 38% of all the military spending in the world. That money went on US involvement in 5 ongoing wars (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States#21st-century_wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_Uni...) and a lot of other smaller conflicts, and that's not to mention the number of attempted terrorist attacks, hacks, etc that happened as well. Nuclear weapons were a deterrent against global conflict, but arguably the world has progressed to a point where global economic pressures mean no one would ever want a global war anyway. Nukes are a waste of money now. They're a relic of the past, and they're a bloody expensive one to maintain.
- forgotmypw17 6y agoI wouldn't describe any of those conflicts as someone fucking with the U.S., they're all the U.S. fucking with someone.
- onion2k 6y agoI guess it'd be more accurate to say "fucking with U.S interests" but that's mostly semantics.